Keeping up with the Joneses
by KazeShumi
Summary: Jughead Jones is the world's best big brother! He wouldn't pass up a chance to see Jellybean again. Neither snow, nor sleet, nor- "HEH-SHUUHH! (Sniffle) ...ugh." -even a really nasty cold will stop him. Archie tries to reason with his friend. Multi-part fic. K for language. Possible Jarchie if you squint. Whump/sick-fic
1. Keeping up with the Joneses part 1

_I noticed an anonymous request for one of the tumblers that I follow, but it was not a fic that the "requestee" was comfortable following up on. It was a sickfic request for Riverdale's FP3: Jughead Jones, after snowday mayhem, denial, and emotional whumpage. I recently got addicted to Riverdale, and this plot idea wouldn't leave me be. So, despite not being much of a writer, I give you:_

Keeping up with the Joneses

Part 1

By KazeShumi

"Bless me again, and I'm gonna hurt you…"

Archie took in the sight of his dark haired friend with genuine concern. He knew this tone, the expression in Jughead's red-rimmed green eyes, and the all too familiar dark circles that were etched into smaller sophomore's face. The new addition to his friend's face was the startling hue of Jughead's nose; as insult was added to injury, in the form of its owner, scrubbing it against a denim jacket sleeve. The contrast was heightened by the fluorescent light of Riverdale High's hallways reflecting off of his already pale face, giving it a sallow appearance.

"Jug, we've been friends for how long?... I know you. You only sneeze like that when you're getting a cold."

Jughead steepled his hands over the lower half of his face and grudgingly released two harsh sneezes, rolling his eyes at the redhead's hypothesis afterwards. He stared pointedly at Archie Andrews, daring him to utter the two offending words for the 5th, no 6th, time this morning.

"Correction: when you have a cold," The taller boy accused.

"Leave it alone, Arch," was the warning issued.

"Look, tomorrow winter break starts; would it kill you to sleep for part of it? This is going to get worse… You look…"

"Like what…?" came the defensive retort, "I can handle it." He stifled a close-mouthed cough into his collar.

Archie inhaled, half-tempted to go off on his clever, if exceptionally stubborn, friend; but instead released the breath as an exasperated sigh, holding up his hands slightly in surrender. The raven haired boy nodded slightly in acknowledgment, satisfied that the lecture bubbling to the surface of the other boy's tongue, was subdued for the moment. But knowing that Archie would not be silent long, Jughead decided to give his oldest friend a little bit of an explanation, by way of changing the subject, as they walked.

"I heard from my mom…" The sentence trailed off, as ocean-colored eyes found chocolate, gauging their interest.

"That's good, right…?" was the uncertain reply. Conversations between Jughead and his mother in recent months went one of two ways. It ended with a Q&A session about Jughead's little sister, Jellybean, and a wistful smile on the dark-haired boy's face or Jughead swallowing the venom-filled diatribe aimed at his neglectful, alcohol-fueled father and visible agony that would be scarred into his face for days afterwards.

Jughead nodded, almost unaware of his own action,

"Yeah,..." He hesitated, seeming almost surprised himself that this had been the case, "Listen, Arch…I wouldn't be coming to you with this, but Jellybean talked my mom into letting her take a bus down for this weekend to come see me…"

"WHAT? Jughead, that's awesome!" Archie's face split into a wide grin at this unbelievably good news.

Jughead, infected by the red-head's enthusiasm, let a half-smile pull at the corner of his mouth,

"Yup… but the problem is my mom doesn't know about… this…" said the shorter boy pulling at his beanie awkwardly and nodding toward the closet that was no longer being used for cleaning supplies, but that had been his makeshift lodgings for a few months now.

Archie immediately replied to the unasked question,

"Yeah, that's no problem… My dad is gone all week to check the lumber and siding quality for the SoDale contract. You can both stay at our place."

A true smile, absent for so long, formed on the thin boy's face. The gratitude in his expression, was unspoken but heartfelt. The larger boy responded reassuringly, and rested his hand on his friend's shoulder; wishing, not for the first time, nor the last, that he could do more than this for Jughead Jones.

Jughead suddenly pitched away from Archie, with a violent "HEDZHSCCHH! Ugh..", cupping his face in his hands and twisting his entire frame to avoid spraying his companion. The disgusted sigh and sniffling that followed, completed the image of illness and exhaustion in Archie's mind. Worry sprang up again, and he started, "Jug,... I…"

But the smaller boy held up a hand to prevent another round of tête-à-tête about his declining health.

"Just led me have this weekedd…" said Jughead stuffily, "After thad you can lecture me all you wad."

"Fine. But you aren't staying here tonight… You have to sleep, actually sleep, if you are going to keep up with Jellybean on Saturday. When does she get in?"

"Friday dight at 6:20. Bus 415." The schedule and bus number came instantly to his lips as he had repeated them at least 100 times to himself while committing them to memory.

"Okay… I'll start getting stuff together after football practice… Does she still eat that god-awful pepperoni and pineapple pizza?" Archie winced at the memory of the youngest Jones's palate.

Jughead smiled again, in spite of a growing sinus headache, "You bed."

Archie groaned and walked beside his friend to Biology.

As the day wore on, Archie Andrews was forced to stand (or sit) by helplessly; listening to and watching his friend grow steadily worse. Each irrepressible volley of sneezes, made the red-haired boy cringe, even if Jughead had strategically sat himself in a location that afforded him a way to avoid the concerned stare of his closest friend. The raven-haired boy looked more vulnerable somehow, like a week old balloon that had started to lose its air a little bit at a time, drooping and deflated. A few times Archie had caught Jughead pinching the bridge of his nose to ward of another series of explosions, or pressing his fingertips against his forehead and swallowing a hiss of discomfort as the pressure in his sinuses changed.

By the time lunch hit, Archie Andrews was pushing his friend towards the nurse's office, his mouth, a determined hard-set line. Jughead tried to resist futilely, trying to push back against the stronger boy or pull away, muttering denials and expletives. Archie steadfastly steered the ill boy and crammed him through the nurse's office doorway, causing them both to stumble forward slightly. As Jughead fought against his grasp, Archie tightened his grip, turning the smaller boy to face him and murmuring low enough that the nurse couldn't hear him,

"Stop it, Jug. Do you want to get Jellybean sick when she comes down?"

Jughead refused to meet his friend's searching eyes, bending his own on the the cracking linoleum. He flushed, half-humiliation, half-anger,

"Fine." was the resentful reply.

The nurse approached them, a resolute and commanding force in her own way, and launched into a litany of questions and admonishments regarding Jughead's lack of self-care. She took him firmly by the shoulder and guided him to one of the cots within, brandishing a thermometer and small otoscope. She looked over her shoulder, and acknowledged Archie's continued presence in her doorway with a clipped, "Thank you, Mr. Andrews. You should head back to lunch now, before the bell rings." Archie reluctantly nodded, and left a thoroughly frustrated and glaring Jughead to the nurse's care.

Jughead missed the rest of his classes that day. Archie was called back to the nurse's station after the last class of the day. She removed herself from the room and closed the door gently behind her, trying to avoid waking the boy sleeping fitfully within. She beckoned to Archie, requesting that he sit on the bench outside her office.

"Mr. Andrews: Mr. Jones tells me that he is staying with you and your father while his father is out of town?"

The tall boy, blinked in surprise at the fabrication, but agreed quickly.

"Yes, Ma'am. He is."

The nurse, pursed her lips, clearly not completely convinced, but allowed the comment to go unchallenged.

"I tried to reach Mr. Jones's father, but the number we have on file is disconnected. I understand you own father is also not here this weekend, so I called you down to the office to make sure he gets to your house okay."

"Is he alright?" questioned Archie, with no small amount of concern.

"At the moment, he has a nasty cold, but with rest and _decent nutrition_ ," She emphasized the later, having had ample time to see how thin the young man had become, "he should make a good recovery. He has no fever, and although he has some sinus pain, it hasn't become an infection… yet. If he does not sleep and eat regularly, this could get more complicated quickly." She looked at him imploringly, hoping that the advice would stick.

"I understand," said Archie, dozens of horrible versions of just how complicated this could get flew through his mind in a span of seconds before he shook his head briefly to dispel them and focused on the task at hand. "Can I see him?"

The nurse smiled slightly, "Of course, he's just inside."

Archie passed through the door and made his way back to the curtained off section where Jughead was. The dark haired boy frowned as he slept, whether from ailment or memories in the form of dreams come to haunt him, Archie couldn't tell. He reached down, hesitantly, to wake the smaller boy, wishing for all the world that teleportation existed; or at least that he had his driver's license by now, so that he could avoid waking his sick friend.

The redhead touched Jughead's shoulder softly, trying not to startle him, "Jug… Jughead, come on…"

Jughead opened his eyes, looking disoriented and more tired than he did earlier if that was possible. He winced as he pulled himself into an upright position, "Ow…" he muttered, clearly annoyed by the amount of pain his head was causing him at the moment. His eyes regained some focus and he recognized his friend standing next to his cot, "Archie…?"

"Yeah, Jug…" the bigger boy tried to smile, but it was thin and tinged with worry, "School's over… Let's get outta here." He extended his hand and helped bring Jughead to his feet.

Jughead nodded, swallowing hard as the vertigo-like sensation struck him from getting up so quickly. He used the red-haired boy shoulder to steady himself before exhaling slowly and making his way out of the nurse's office. Archie grabbed a few travel packs of kleenex on his way out.

Archie, knowing he wouldn't be making football today, had Jughead sit on the seats outside Coach Clayton's office while he excused himself from today's drills and explaining his absence to his coach. Coach Clayton raised his eyebrows skeptically, but hearing a loud staccato burst of sneezes from the ill boy outside his door assured him that Andrews was not just trying to miss out on post-season practice.

When Archie left the coach's office, he looked on miserably as Jughead was caught in the throes of another fit of body-wrenching sneezes.

"HEDZHSCCHHUH! Hetschhuhhh! HEHGSSSHuhh! HEH-HehGSHHUH! Heh… ughh...Damnit!" his shoulder sank from the unwanted exertion, his hands still covering his face, waiting for the explosions to subside.

Archie passed him one of the travel tissue packs he had swiped from the nurse's office. After his friend had cleaned himself up, he moved to help Jughead up. The raven haired boy resisted, pulling away. He glared at Archie,

"I'm good…"

"Sure," the red-haired boy quipped, "Let's just go.


	2. Keeping up with the Joneses part 2

Keeping up with the Joneses

Part 2

By KazeShumi

Early November had hit Riverdale with a resounding thud. The air was frigid with the north wind blowing in from Canada. The skies were almost winter-white and were thick with gray clouds that threatened snow.

Jughead stifled a cough into the sleeve of the red and black checkered coat he had put on over his denim jacket. He pulled his gray beanie down to cover his ears, which, after 5 minutes of walking in the cold, stinging air, had turned an angry red color. His feet felt as though they had been encased in concrete, heavy and numb with cold.

Archie kept pace with him, not wanting Jughead to push himself. He breathed a sigh of relief once he saw that they had only had about mile left to walk. The distance was easily done in a more pleasant temperature and when the two friends were both healthy. But now, Jughead was even paler than before, his eyes were heavy-lidded, and there were times they had to stop for a short while because the cold air seemed to trigger a bout of coughing from the smaller boy.

Archie, after looking around to ensure that no nosy neighbors were watching, he squatted in front of the dark haired boy. Jughead almost fell over him distractedly. With a tired confusion, he asked,

"What the hell, Arch?"

"Get on."

Jughead Jones took a moment to process whether or not Archie was insane prior to school ending…maybe it was him? Maybe he was finally cracking up?

"What?" came the intelligent response.

"Get. On." The red-head looked over his shoulder at his friend, "You look like you're gonna drop any second. Nobody is watching. So, get on."

Jughead hesitated, but exhaustion won out. The shorter boy wrapped his arms around his friend's shoulders and felt himself lifted up. Archie carried him the rest of the way to the Andrews' house, up the front stairs and into the house before depositing him gently onto the couch.

Archie looked at Jughead and sighed. The sick boy was already taller boy ran a hand through his hair wondering how Jughead would make it through the next 3 days. They would worry about that tomorrow.

Archie went to the kitchen to ensure that the current food supply they had would last. The sky outside promised snow and possibly freezing rain. The last thing Archie wanted was for his friend to decide to make an impromptu grocery run over the weekend. If his memories of Jellybean were still valid, the active little girl would keep them busy. She was a great kid, and Jughead would find a way to give her the moon if she had asked him for it, but knowing his stubborn friend and his current state of ill health, Archie was concerned about Jughead's indulgence getting the better of him.

The red-head was pulled from his thoughts by the cold air from the open fridge reminding him of the task at hand. He found a ready supply of leftovers and frozen foods that could be microwaved without him setting fire to the kitchen. Satisfied with the current stock of the family fridge, Archie returned to the living room.

Forsythe Pendleton Jones the third was sprawled out on the old, comfortable Lazyboy sofa: a tangled mess of long limbs. The slow movement of his chest was the only sign of life. The taller boy shook his head fondly at his lifelong friend.

He walked over to the couch, and checked for any signs of a developing fever with the outside of his hand. The smaller boy's forehead and cheeks were still cool to the touch from the exposure outside. The red-haired boy smiled, relieved.

"No fever yet. No thanks to you, you stubborn dumbass…" He murmured softly, without any heat.

He jumped a bit when he heard a soft croak,

"I'm a smart-ass, actually."

In spite of how terrible he felt, the dark-haired boy still pulled his mouth into a small, tight version of his trademark sardonic smirk.

Archie rolled his eyes,

"Could have fooled me… Are you gonna make it to my room or are you crashing here?" He gestured to the couch.

Jughead stretched, rolling his neck, (wincing when it popped loudly), weighing the pros and cons of each option. He took pity on Archie and said, to let his friend save face, "If I say couch, I will have to listen to you trip down the stairs when you decide to put a dent in the fudge ripple supply of the Midwest tonight… I'll get up."

His words said he was planning on heading upstairs to the familiar bedroom that he had spent much of his childhood playing (and sleeping) in. His body creaked and popped in protest, and the lag in his body's response time to mental commands was irking him greatly. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and relying heavily on the bannister, the raven-haired boy was conscious of his friend passing him on his way up.

Archie rummaged in the hall closet, pulling out the old air mattress and the spare blankets and sheets. As Jughead sat down heavily on the red-haired boy's bed, Archie made short work of pumping the plastic mattress into a useable form. He let the smaller boy half-fall, half-roll onto the squashy blob and wrap himself in the soft quilts and spare comforter. Only when he was fairly sure that the Jughead-shaped bundle would stay put for the rest of the night, did Archie finally close his eyes and allow himself to sleep.

The following morning passed away, without either boy being aware of its arrival. Just after noon, the pale pre-winter sunlight began to seep in through the windows of the bedroom, causing grumbles and mutterings from the dark-haired boy who had caught the beams full in the face from his angle on the floor. He crumpled into a ball on the air mattress as he buried a fit of muffled sneezes into his pillow.

"HSHSST! HEHKTTT! HESHMPFF! HEH-EH-EHSHMPPF! EHGSSSHH! ...sh-shit… heh...HEKTSSSHH!"

Jughead swallowed a groan, feeling the inflamed ache in his throat as he did so. He felt a bit better from the most comfortable night he had spent in months and the amount of sleep he had gotten consequently. He had only woken up 3 or 4 times to scramble into the hall to cough or sneeze when he couldn't silence the fits enough to prevent his friend waking up. All in all, he would probably be through the worse of this virus before Jellybean arrived. He smiled, this was going to be a great weekend!

The dark-haired boy fought gravity and rolled onto his knees to stabilize himself as he got up. He glanced to his right and saw his spontaneous roommate, his form slightly too large for his old four poster twin bed, still asleep with his mouth hanging open. Jughead stifled a laugh and rapidly turned into a dry, rasping fit of coughs.

Shit.

Archie stirred and blinked at Jughead blearily.

"You okay?"

Jughead, still struggling to stop coughing, flashed him a thumbs-up, in lieu of being able to verbally respond.

"Yeah… You sound _great_ , dude."

The smaller boy finally smothered the fit into a few sporadic coughs.

"Th-thanks…(cough) asshole (cough)."

"Anytime. You hungry?"

"Eh…" The smaller boy shrugged, as his friend hoisted himself out of bed, "I could eat."

The red-haired boy smiled hopefully, an appetite was a good sign.

During their late lunch, Jughead was keenly aware of his friend's eyes watching him push the cereal around his bowl. His throat felt as though he had taken up being a carnival-style fire eater as a hobby. He manfully spooned up the next 3 bites, feigning ignorance of the attention he was getting, and forced himself to swallowed each one. A faint rock chorus emanating from the Larger boy's phone drew his attention. Jughead slouched forward a little more than normal and stifled a small set of sneezes by pinching the rebellious feature tightly.

"Hhhnnxt! Heh-chht! Xxxht!" Raven-colored curls shook as their owner jerked as the inhibited explosions turned their force inwards. He sniffled experimentally and wiped his runny nose on a nearby paper napkin. The pain behind his eyes made him grimace. Resonance be damned. Jughead was certain at this point that he'd rather sound like a bad Rebecca Black recording for the rest of his life than deal with his sinuses at this moment.

Archie turned back towards his friend and said,

"That was my dad. He said we should call the bus line that Jellybean is taking to check the times again; it's already snowing where he is, so there could be delays. I'm going to go grab the laptop." The red-haired boy headed back up the stairs, easily taking them two at a time.

Jughead, assured of a few seconds free of scrutiny, picked up his bowl and passed it to Vegas, who disposed of the evidence quickly and eagerly. After a grateful scratch behind the ears, the smaller boy popped his dish into the sink and grabbed the last of the orange juice from the fridge, gasping as the acidic drink coursed down his throat. He had to shake this.

Archie clomped down the stairs, laptop in hand.

"It's supposed to snow pretty good tonight, Jug…" He hesitated, "Maybe... you should stay here and I'll go get Jellybean."

Jughead smirked at his old friend, "'Caaaause that's toootally gonna happen, right?"

The red-head sighed, "Worth a shot."

Archie could see that arguing the point would be pointless. Jughead had not seen his 10 year-old sister in over six months. There was no way he would voluntarily give up a single second of his time with her. The larger boy shrugged off the sarcasm quickly and clapped his friend on the shoulder reassuringly. Jughead feigned injury and soon the two friends were laughing and play fighting, taking fake cheap shots at each other and goofing off waiting for evening.

As the cloud covered sun began to go down on Riverdale, the temperature went down with it. The trees around the Andrews' house creaked and groaned in the wind as the boys set out for the Riverdale bus depot. They moved quickly, both from the chill in the air and their mutual desire to see the youngest Jones sibling.

Jughead, tucked his hands into his armpits as he walked. He could swear that his gloves had done a better job of coping with the harsh midwestern winters last year. He coughed slightly, not daring to do so with any kind of effectiveness, as that might slow their progress. After years of waiting to be picked up from various activities at school by their father together, (sometimes for hours) Jughead would be damned if he would make Jellybean wait for him for even a minute.

They made good time and arrived at the depot about 15 minutes before the bus was due to get there. The two high schoolers took shelter along the side of the depot that was shielded from the worst of the wind. Jughead shivered slightly, pulling his beanie down to cover more exposed surface area. He sniffled, rubbing his bright pink nose against the back of his gloved fingers. His sensitive nose protested against the rough treatment and triggered two quickly muffled sneezes,

"EhhKSSHmff! HehDSTchhh!"

"Bless you." said Archie reflexively.

"Shut up, Andrews."

They grinned at each other. Their witty banter was interrupted by a large low-sounding engine. The long-awaited bus came into the depot and stopped with a hiss. Steam clouds formed as the bus door was collapsed to one side and passengers began to get off. Archie watched as his friend searched rapidly for the only traveler of consequence to him.

One of the last individuals to dismount, was much shorter than the rest, but taller than her brother recalled. Her dark hair, mimicked her sibling's and was tucked up under a knit beanie in her favorite color, purple. She carried a retro style backpack emblazoned with the cover art from Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album. Her eyes, a sharp emerald green scanned the crowd for a familiar lanky form. Their eyes met and she released a shriek that betrayed her recently reputed "cool kid persona" and made a mad dash across the parking lot. Jughead caught her up in a tight hug, pulling her off the ground.

"I missed you, Juggie!"

Her brother wiped his stinging eyes on his sleeve, drew a shaky breath and whispered,

"Yeah, I missed you too."


	3. Keeping up with the Joneses part 3

Keeping up with the Joneses

Part 3

Jughead smiled. Not his typical crooked half-smile/half-smirk, but a real smile, that was so rarely present on his face that his cheek muscles actually ached with disuse. He clung to his sister's small, familiar frame. A swirl of memories and emotions crashed through him like an invisible force. Flashes of pain, anger, despair, and longing all mixed together in an undertow that made remembering to breathe difficult. Tears of joy and pain of the long separation landed from Jellybean's eyes onto her brother's jacket and from his eyes onto her hair and shoulder.

Archie watched the long wished-for moment with happiness. There was nothing in the world that his best friend had wanted more than to be with his baby sister again. But she seemed older to Archie… not in age, but in her eyes. Eyes of someone who had seen more than she was ready to see… Like her brother's eyes, when his father entered the same room that he was in; resolved and with an almost feral preparedness for some terror or pain that may suddenly come from some unknown source.

Archie swallowed those musings down deep inside of himself. He had more pressing concerns… like the clumpy white blobs falling gently down from the night sky. Archie looked down at the pavement which was beginning to get a dusting of snow. It was sticking.

"Hey, Jellybean!" He approached the siblings slowly, reluctantly. The young girl smiled broadly, wiping unshed tears from her eyes,

"Hi Archie! Long time no see!"

"What? No hug for your "adopted" brother? See if I let you beat me at Super Smash Bros. later…"

He teased.

She gave Archie a huge smile, "Like you'd have to let me… I'll beat you even if I play cross-eyed." She gave the red-haired boy a warm hug.

The two older boys laughed at the boast.

Archie jerked his thumb towards Main Street,

"We better started heading back, the snow is already coming down pretty good." He eyed Jughead meaningfully.

The dark-haired boy nodded, the unspoken warning accepted. The street lights' yellow glare showed snow on Archie's sweatshirt hood which poked out from under the collar of his bomber jacket. Jughead sniffled liquidly, wiping his nose on his sleeve as subtly as he could; repressing a shiver. The snow was melting quickly into his coat collar, icy water trickling down his neck and upper back. He pulled up his collar against the cold, wet invasion. He instantly thought of Jellybean.

Jughead reached over, pulling her puffy winter coat's hood up and over the purple woolen beanie and in the same fluid movement, zipped her jacket up higher. She rolled her eyes at his hovering, but allowed her brother this small victory. He smiled at her reaction, satisfied that she was guarded against the elements. But his traitorous nose seemed to notice his distraction, and forced him to sniffle again quickly. The sharp rush of cold air set a tingling buzz coursing through his nasal passages. He winced, shaking his head and sniffling again trying to dispel the sensation.

Jellybean watched this event play across her brother's face with curiosity, but said nothing. He rubbed his nose with the edge of his coat cuff again, which proved to be the turning point of his battle. He gasped as the fiery tickle intensified and two rapid hitching breaths later,

"Heh-Heh-HEDDDTSSSHHAAH!" Jughead spun on his heel away from his sister as the sneeze overtook him and ducked into his shoulder to avoid spreading this virus further. He cringed inwardly and turned back toward Archie and Jellybean with a forced smile. "Whoo… That came out of nowhere!" At least it was only one this time. He stole a glance at Archie's face. The red-head sighed and returned his glance with one of apprehension and pity.

"Bless you, Juggie… Are you okay…?" Jellybean searched her brother's face for answers. He just grinned at her, seemingly amused by her concern,

"I'm just fine, Jellybean, or should I be calling you "JB" now?" He attempted to change the subject of discussion.

"Are you sure?" came the persistent question, along with a small tilt of her head that reminded Archie of a small bird.

"I'm fine. Don't worry so much. You'll get wrinkles." He playfully pulled her hood down over her eyes.

Anxious to return home (and to get his friend out of this weather) Archie took matters into his own hands with an exaggerated shiver,

"Brrrr! Guys, it's freezing out here… Let's head back to my house." The ploy worked and the trio began the trek back to the Andrews' house.

Jellybean hesitated, "We aren't staying with Dad…?" she asked her brother slowly. Jughead's face darkened,

"No, sis, he's not at home right now,"said Jughead, avoiding the questions that he could not truthfully answer without hurting her more: Where was Dad? Didn't he want to see her? Did he know she was here? He tried to put a positive spin on the situation,

"Archie missed you too, so we planned for us to stay at his house. He has all the fun video games anyway…"

Jellybean nodded. Her small face, was all at once, alight with evil plotting, "Can we have pineapple pizza, too?"

Archie pretended to throw-up noisily, at the mere mention of the unique pie-ingredient. She shoved him away, as equally disgusted by his evaluation of her preference, as he was pretending to be of her tastebuds' poor lifechoices.

Jughead put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to his side,

"Anything you want." He was rewarded with a bright smile.

By the time they turned onto the quiet old street, the snow was coming down heavily. The muffled sounds of their laughs and joking falling flat in the cold dry air. Jellybean held the hands of both boys, relishing their kindness, and company. Every so often, Archie glanced over to watch her as she looked towards her brother, full of joy and contentment.

They tromped up the porch stairs kicking clumps of snow from their boots. The stripped off their cold, drippy jackets, hats, and coats, hanging them on the coat rack behind the door. Archie went to start heating the pizza and Jughead helped Jellybean unpack her things, badgering her to take a warm shower before the pizza was ready.

Laughing at his mother-henning, Jellybean finally conceded,

"Fine, Juggie! I'll go. Criminies…"

Only she had pushed the old creaking bathroom door shut and he heard the water running, did Jughead finally release the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He checked out his appearance in the hall mirror, making a face. The mimed image grimaced back at him, pale with a violently rose-colored nose, dripping curls, and wind-chapped cheeks. His nose was running again.

"Crap." He muttered, thoroughly perturbed with his body's crummy immune system. Jughead swiped his nose on his long-sleeved black shirt. He sighed, running a hand absently through his unruly, wet hair; hoping against all odds that he could keep this weekend as a truly happy, carefree memory for Jellybean and for himself.

Jughead shivered again, his dark-hair shaking droplets of snowmelt onto his shoulders, causing him to rub his arms to ward off the chill that still lingered. He grabbed his obligatory commemorative sweatshirt from the Blue & Gold, pulling it over his head. He smirked at how much he had argued against this trite ritual of school activities, citing the wearing of such a piece of clothing lacked originality and was just another way that the school was encouraging voluntary conformity. He had never loved the ugly blue sweatshirt more than he did at that very moment.

He went down to the kitchen quickly, knowing Archie's home-economics skills left much to be desired. Jughead had found, through trial and error (mostly error), that it was best not to leave the red-haired boy in charge of anything flammable for too long.

The kitchen was not on fire. This was a good sign. Jughead walked into the kitchen, smelling sweetness and savory smells emanating from the oven. Suddenly, there was a flash of color as his vision disappeared. A huge towel swallowed his head with a "thwuff" sound.

"Oof… Damnit, Archie!"

Hands rubbed his damp curls vigorously, but not roughly.

Archie, moving the towel as he dried, eventually came eyeball to eyeball with a miffed Jughead. Struggling not to grin at the expression of annoyance on his friend's face, Archie continued his way along the back of the smaller boy's neck and ears.

"Are y'done?!" came the irritated question, half-muffled by the towel.

"I didn't think you'd have enough sense to dry off, so I decided to be prepared." said the larger boy with a shrug and a smiled creeping over his face. Jughead's hair, notoriously stubborn, (due to it's proximity a stubborn mind) had gone the way of the late eighties hair bands and was sticking up at odd angles, being statically charged from the towel.

Jughead sniffled, rubbing his nose gently with one finger,

"Does that include not burning the pizza?" Archie looked into the oven worriedly, but without cause: the pizza was perfectly golden brown on the edges. He removed the pizza, placing it on the island on a potholder. He gave the dark-haired boy a withering look over the slight against his non-existent cooking abilities.

As Archie began to slice the pie, he discreetly tried to figure out is their trip to the depot had taken its toll on the smaller boy. Jughead still looked pale, he wasn't coughing as much now, and he didn't seem feverish when Archie had toweled him off. Reassured that, at least, for right now, Jughead was holding his own against his sickness, the larger boy breathed a sigh of relief.

A cry of "PIZZA!" carried through the house, as Jellybean dashed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Vegas trotted beside her, equally enthused about the choice of food.

The simple dinner was quickly demolished by the hungry quartet (Vegas scarfing down every unwanted crust and occasional dropped pepperoni that his newest best friend passed along to him.) Archie pulled out the sofa bed and made it up for Jelly bean while her brother microwaved hot chocolate in the kitchen and she selected "Cats & Dogs". Archie raised his eyebrows at her choice; she simply smiled,

"What? I love talking animals!"

"I didn't say anything… but it's good to know you haven't changed that much…" Archie bent down and messed up her hair.

"Hey! I'll get you back when we play Nintendo later!" She declared. Archie tossed two pillows onto the sofa bed and plopped onto the floor beside her, pretending to yawn.

"I'm not even sure I'll m-make it… (Yawn) through the movie at this rate. I'm beat." The earlier he got everyone to get to sleep, the better the chances that Jughead's body would have be able to beat this cold.

Jughead brought in the steaming mugs of chocolate, nose twitching with irritation. He set down the mugs and mumbled,

"I-I'll b-be baaahck…(Sniifle) Bathroom-break."

"Hurry up!" yelled Jellybean, distractedly, putting on the DVD. Archie frowned, unable to hear over the DVD advertisements. He got up, making an excuse of finding popcorn, and took a right down the hall to the downstairs bathroom.

The muffled explosions that he heard through the door came rapidly,

"HEH-GSSSHMMF! HEHHCCT! heh-EH-GHmmmft! HEShccmmmf! Ugh…eh-heh-Hehhh-ggggshh!" This unsettling chorus of sneezes, began violent and urgent and trailed off into a deep, gurgling nose blow followed by an exhausted-looking Jughead opening the door. He jumped about a foot, causing the door to jerk.

"Geezus, Arch!" He bit back a yelp of surprise which dissolved into a small fit of dry, painful-sounding coughs. Jughead ducked his head into the collar of the sweatshirt, so that it covered his nose and mouth, quickly silencing the fit into the hoodie's lining, his hands pressing the fabric to his face.

"Sorry…" said Archie, looking at his friend with no small amount of worry, "You sound awful… I thought you were doing better than this. I shouldn't have let you…"

"Hold it…" said the dark-haired boy, "I'm gonna stop you right there. You didn't let me… I went, I'll deal… Got it? Staying here wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. Guilt-tripping yourself needlessly won't fix it either. I've been through worse, hell, you've seen me go through worse than this. I'll be fine. I'll call it an early night after the movie."

"Okay." Archie said dejectedly. He let Jughead push past him and watched as the tired boy sat heavily on the sofa bed next to Jellybean. She was so absorbed with watching the movie, that she didn't notice her brother's dark hair duck twice in quick succession as he pinched his nose in two completely silent stifles. He shook his head to clear it briefly and pulled the old afgan and quilt a little more snugly around her sister. He stroked her hair and pulled her closer to his side. Archie rejoined the group, and passed around the nearly forgotten hot cocoa, trying to lose his worries in the ridiculous movie.

Before the ending credits, Jellybean was asleep, in spite of all her late-night plans of videogaming.

Archie watched as her brother's head came to rest on top of hers, Jughead's clear eyes drooping. The red-head got up careful not to disturb the sleeping girl. He gently roused Jughead, who blinked in confusion. Archie put a finger to his lips and gestured to Jughead's left. Suddenly, the dark-haired boy's tiredness was forgotten. Jughead smiled, easing Jellybean's head off his shoulder and laying her down onto the sofa bed softly. He pulled another blanket over her sleeping form and quietly left the darkened room with his best friend.

Once upstairs, Archie tried to get Jughead to take his bed,

"At least for tonight!" He argued. Sadly, whether he didn't get his mother's skill at pleading a case or whether Jughead just knew his tactics too well, he still couldn't convince his friend.

"It's better this way. She'll come tearing in here tomorrow and jump on you by accident trying to wake me up! I'll be fine on the air mattress. I swear."

Archie sighed and passed Jughead a couple of Nyquil capsules and a glass of water,

"Fine, but you are taking these." The implied "or else" was clear.

Jughead swallowed the pills in one gulp with a healthy swig of water.

"Done. Happy now?"

"Yeah, for the moment."

"Well, I hope the moment lasts a while, cause I'm going to sleep. Night." Jughead crawled under the comforter and unceremoniously passed out.

Archie stayed up a bit longer, watching the snow fall outside and listening to the soft, congested snores coming from the sick boy on the air mattress. He wished he could take this sickness from the smaller boy, but he would do everything he could to make sure that this cold didn't get any worse.

End of part 3


End file.
